Self-service lottery ticket machines are mostly available at larger outlets such as, for example, grocery stores and selected retailers. These machines allow individuals to purchase lottery tickets, to select a lottery game, and/or to scan the tickets to determine if the tickets are winning tickets. These machines will typically accept bills such as, for example, $1, $5, and/or $20 bills.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional lottery vending machine 100 that is currently available to individuals. The buttons set 102 permits the individual to select the lottery ticket payment price amount and/or lottery ticket type that the individual desires. For example, the buttons 105a, 105b, 105c, and 105d permit the individual to select lottery payment price amounts of $1, $2, $5, and $10, respectively, for a particular type of lottery contest. As another example, the buttons 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d permit the individual to select the lottery payment price amounts of $1, $2, $5, and $10, respectively, for another particular type of lottery contest. The individual can insert cash 112 (e.g., dollar bills or coins) into the cash slot 115 and can receive the lottery ticket 118 desired by the individual from the ticket output slot 120.
However, these currently used self-service lottery ticket machines do not dispense funds for a winning ticket and require the winning ticket owner to seek a store clerk in order to obtain the winning ticket funds. This process is inconvenient for the ticket owner because he/she will need to find/seek a cashier and/or to wait for his/her turn at the cashier line.
In some states such as Ohio, for example, at least some lottery ticket machines permit the winning ticket holder to take credit from the machines. However, the credit amount provided by these lottery machines is limited to relatively small cash amounts. For example, these machines will not credit more than, for example, $60 dollars for a winning ticket.
Other current systems provide the following features. U.S. Pat. No. 7,914,371 discloses a networked-connected lottery machine that communicates with a server that is managed by a lottery authority. However, this lottery machine also requires the winning ticket owner to find/seek a cashier in order to claim the prize for a winning lottery ticket.
U.S. Patent Publication 2004/0087360 discloses networked gaming device that also communicates with a server. However, this gaming device does not provide some of the features in a self-service lottery ticket machine.
Based on the above discussion, the current technology is limited in its capabilities and suffers from at least the above constraints and deficiencies.